Christian Research Newsletter

1. What's New In The Headlines
2. Raids Rock COG

by Ron Rhodes and Paul Carden

articles from
the Headline News and International columns of the Christian
Research Newsletter, Volume 6: Number 4, 1993.

The Editor of the Christian Research Newsletter is Ron Rhodes.

The 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions Met in Chicago August
28 to September 4, Involving Religious Leaders from Every Corner of
the Globe and Virtually Every Imaginable Faith.

The August 30 New York Times reports, "On Saturday [the
28th], Buddhist monks, Hindu swamis and Muslim imams, along with
Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Bahais, Theosophists and goddess worshipers,
joined more familiar religious figures like Joseph Cardinal
Bernardin, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, to begin eight
days of prayer, meditation, and dialogue with 6,000 participants at
the Palmer House Hilton Hotel." Among the featured speakers were
the Dalai Lama, former United Nations Assistant Secretary General
Robert Muller, and Global 2000 Report director Dr. Gerald O.
Barney.

The meeting marked the centennial of the 1893 World's
Parliament of Religions -- a landmark in American religious
history. "Besides signaling a place for Catholicism and Judaism in
the American religious mainstream, the 1893 Parliament introduced
Eastern religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Bahai to a wide
public, aiding their growth on these shores."

The Times noted a key difference between the two Parliaments.
"The handful of people representing Hinduism and Buddhism in 1893
or the sole Muslim -- an American convert -- would today find at
least tens of thousands of fellow believers in the Chicago area
alone.... There are more than a dozen Hindu places of worship
around the city and suburbs, 28 Buddhist organizations, and scores
of mosques."

CRI president Hank Hanegraaff and editor-in-chief Elliot Miller
attended the historic meeting. An in-depth analysis of the event
will appear in an upcoming Christian Research Journal.

Televangelist Benny Hinn Has Publicly Renounced Faith Theology.

The August 16, 1993 issue of Christianity Today reported that
Benny Hinn has apparently responded to admonitions from Hank
Hanegraaff and evangelist James Robison by repenting of teaching
the Faith message -- including positive confession, the prosperity
gospel, and the right-to-be-healed concept.

Robison, who contacted Hinn after reading Hanegraaff's book
Christianity in Crisis, is quoted in the article as saying, "I
told Benny that every time I prayed for him, the Lord showed me his
displeasure over what he was doing. I didn't want to see Benny
continue in his slaughter of the innocent sheep." Robison said he
brought the same message to televangelists Jim Bakker, Jimmy
Swaggart, and Larry Lea, but none of them responded to the warning.
Hinn, Robison said, reacted differently.

Robison reports that "Benny went to pieces and was very
contrite....I told him God didn't anoint him to preach erroneous
teachings and perform extravagant theatrics like knocking people
down, waving his coat around, and blowing on people, and if he
continued, his ministry would be destroyed within three years."

In front of a jolted and teary-eyed congregation at the
7,000-member Orlando Christian Center, Hinn censured the Faith
movement. "It's faith, faith, faith and no Jesus anywhere. We have
to have faith in Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. So,
where do I stand on faith? Stop seeking faith and start seeking the
Lord! The word-of-faith message is New Age and it doesn't work. I'm
going to stop preaching healing and start preaching Jesus,"
Christianity Today reports.

Hanegraaff says there is only one way for Hinn to demonstrate
his rectitude: "The real test is whether Benny will pull his books.
In other words, will he continue to sell books that promote the
very thing he says he is turning away from?"

Massachusetts' Highest Court Has Reversed Its Conviction of
Christian Scientists David and Ginger Twitchell over the Death of
Their 2-year-old Son, Robyn.

A previous issue of the Christian Research Newsletter
reported that the Twitchells relied on the healing practices of
Christian Science for their son who had a bowel obstruction -- but
he died in 1986.

The August 12, 1993 Orange County Register reports that David
and Ginger Twitchell had earlier been convicted of involuntary
manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years' probation in the death of
their son. But in a 6-1 decision, "the Massachusetts Supreme
Judicial Court overturned the verdict on a narrow point of view.
The justices said the Twitchells 'reasonably believed' they could
rely on spiritual treatment without fear of criminal prosecution
because a church publication the father had read suggested as much.
That argument should have been presented to the jury, the court
said."

The article also notes that "the court didn't rule out all
prosecutions of parents who rely on spiritual healing. It said they
can be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter if they are found
to be 'wanton and reckless' in their care of a child."

Raids Rock COG

A police raid in Argentina may spell disaster for a notorious
cult's recent efforts to reform its unsavory image.

On September 2, 180 officials raided a complex of seven
residences in an upscale Buenos Aires neighborhood which housed the
Argentine headquarters of "The Family" -- better known as the
Children of God (COG), Family of Love, or Heaven's Magic.

According to initial news reports, authorities detained 30
adults, took 268 children into protective custody, and seized an
undisclosed number of allegedly pornographic videos and other
materials. As the Newsletter went to press, 17 of the adults
(including two Americans) faced charges of sodomy, kidnapping
children, and involuntary servitude.

According to the New York Times, "the impetus for the
investigation came from pleas by two American families who had
failed to get the group to give back their children." The Times
quoted an Argentine judge as saying that minors in the sect were
discovered living in "cramped quarters, many of them underfed and
poorly clothed." A Reuters dispatch told of "grisly details"
emerging "about hard-core videos of sex between adults and
children" and Argentine officials' claims that "at least some of
the children...appear to be mentally impaired." The Brazilian
newsweekly Veja reported that authorities apprehended at least
one video showing scenes of boys masturbating before adults, and
another depicting sexual acts between a father and his daughter.

Those who have studied the cult's literature over the years are
not surprised at reports that such vile materials have been
confiscated. Letters from the group's fugitive founder, "Moses"
David Berg, have regularly featured randy sexual tales and advice
-- from accounts of Berg having intercourse with spirits of the
dead to the emphatic encouragement of sex among young children.
Homemade videos smuggled out of the cult depict women and little
girls performing stripteases for Berg's pleasure.

Although for years the group operated underground because of
persistent police and press investigations, in recent months The
Family ("a fellowship of Christian missionary communities") has
boldly sought to distance itself from its former image through a
flurry of press releases and a more open approach to reporters.

But suddenly, the sect has again found itself the subject of
lurid headlines around the globe characterizing it as a "sex cult."
To make matters worse, on September 7 police in the Paraguayan
capital of Asunciun raided a home allegedly owned by the COG as
part of an investigation on charges similar to those in the
Argentine case. Meanwhile, on September 14 Argentine authorities
asked Interpol to assist in tracking Berg down on an international
arrest warrant.

A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help in
the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.

Copyright 1994 by the Christian Research Institute.

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